Weekly News Wrap: China’s retailers face wary customers post-lockdown; Singapore stores brace for chicken ban

And Amazon shuts down its Kindle store in China.

From Reuters:

Mother-of-two Yang Zengdong, 40, is ready to take her family for a long-awaited outing to mark Shanghai’s grand re-opening from COVID-19 lockdown.

Her ambitions – head to a mall, see what is open and maybe buy a drink or some small toys for her young daughters – are modest, but even those simple pleasures have been impossible during the gruelling two-month lockdown.

Unfortunately for retailers desperate for a quick, "vengeful" return of shoppers of the sort seen in 2020 when China enjoyed a "V-shaped" recovery from its initial battle with COVID-19, the excitement that is palpable on newly bustling city streets is tempered by wariness about the future.

Shanghai's lockdown may be over, but China is sticking to its zero-COVID elimination strategy, fuelling worry in the city of 25 million that it could all happen again.

"A lot of my friends, people with families and kids, their idea is to buy a bigger fridge, or food - they aren’t interested in buying unnecessary stuff right now,” said Yang, who works as a teacher.

Read more here.

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/shanghais-modest-post-lockdown-revenge-spending-beauty-products-bubble-tea-2022-06-01/

From Bloomberg:

Singapore businesses and consumers are rushing to figure out how to cope with Malaysia’s impending halt of some chicken exports.

From Wednesday, Malaysia will ban the export of 3.6 million chickens a month to ease rising food costs and ensure adequate domestic supplies. The move has left Singapore stores selling chicken products in limbo, and consumers apprehensive about whether they will still be able to enjoy favourite meals such as chicken rice.

“I’m still thankful that many chicken rice stalls I patronize have not raised their prices. But it probably means they are absorbing the extra cost, so I’m not sure if it’s sustainable for them,” said William Tan, an engineer.

Read more here.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-05-31/singapore-consumers-businesses-brace-for-chicken-ban-reports

From CNBC:

Amazon will shut its Kindle e-book store in China next year, marking the latest retreat by a U.S. tech giant in the market.

Kindle users in China will no longer be able to purchase new books after the e-book shop closes on June 30, 2023, Amazon announced on its Weibo account on Thursday. The e-commerce company said it has already stopped supplying third-party sellers with Kindle e-readers, though some are still listed for purchase on Amazon’s JD.com site.

Chinese users will be able to download previously purchased e-books until June 30, 2024, and continue to read them after that, Amazon said.

The Kindle maker did not give a reason for the pullback in its announcement, but it said its existing businesses in China, such as logistics, ads and devices, will not be affected.

Read more here.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/06/02/amazon-to-shut-down-kindle-store-in-china.html?&qsearchterm=stores